Building Ownership, Renovation Investments, and Energy Performance—A Study of Multi-Family Dwellings in Gothenburg

The European building stock was renewed at a rapid pace during the period 1950–1975. In many European countries, the building stock from this time needs to be renovated, and there are opportunities to introduce energy efficiency measures in the renovation process. information availability and increasingly available analysis tools make it possible to assess the impact of policy and regulation. This article describes methods developed for analyzing investments in renovation and energy performance based on building ownership and inhabitant socio-economic information developed for Swedish authorities, to be used for the Swedish national renovations strategy in 2019. This was done by analyzing measured energy usage and renovation investments made during the last 30 years, coupled with building specific official information of buildings and resident area characteristics, for multi-family dwellings in Gothenburg (N = 6319). The statistical analyses show that more costly renovations lead to decreasing energy usage for heating, but buildings that have been renovated during the last decades have a higher energy usage when accounting for current heating system, ownership, and resident socio-economic background. It is appropriate to include an affordability aspect in larger renovation projects since economically disadvantaged groups are over-represented in buildings with poorer energy performance

Recent Developments in Smart Healthcare

Medicine is undergoing a sector-wide transformation thanks to the advances in computing and networking technologies. Healthcare is changing from reactive and hospital-centered to preventive and personalized, from disease focused to well-being centered. In essence, the healthcare systems, as well as fundamental medicine research, are becoming smarter. We anticipate significant improvements in areas ranging from molecular genomics and proteomics to decision support for healthcare professionals through big data analytics, to support behavior changes through technology-enabled self-management, and social and motivational support. Furthermore, with smart technologies, healthcare delivery could also be made more efficient, higher quality, and lower cost. In this special issue, we received a total 45 submissions and accepted 19 outstanding papers that roughly span across several interesting topics on smart healthcare, including public health, health information technology (Health IT), and smart medicine

EG-ICE 2021 Workshop on Intelligent Computing in Engineering

The 28th EG-ICE International Workshop 2021 brings together international experts working at the interface between advanced computing and modern engineering challenges. Many engineering tasks require open-world resolutions to support multi-actor collaboration, coping with approximate models, providing effective engineer-computer interaction, search in multi-dimensional solution spaces, accommodating uncertainty, including specialist domain knowledge, performing sensor-data interpretation and dealing with incomplete knowledge. While results from computer science provide much initial support for resolution, adaptation is unavoidable and most importantly, feedback from addressing engineering challenges drives fundamental computer-science research. Competence and knowledge transfer goes both ways

Appropriate Wisdom, Technology, and Management toward Environmental Sustainability for Development

The protection and maintenance of environmental resources for future generations require responsible interaction between humans and the environment in order to avoid wasting natural resources. According to an ancient Native American proverb, “We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.” This indigenous wisdom has the potential to play a significant role in defining environmental sustainability. Recent technological advances could sustain humankind and allow for comfortable living. However, not all of these advancements have the potential to protect the environment for future generations. Developing societies and maintaining the sustainability of the ecosystem require appropriate wisdom, technology, and management collaboration. This book is a collection of 19 important articles (15 research articles, 3 review papers, and 1 editorial) that were published in the Special Issue of the journal Sustainability entitled “Appropriate Wisdom, Technology, and Management toward Environmental Sustainability for Development” during 2021-2022.addresses the policymakers and decision-makers who are willing to develop societies that practice environmental sustainability, by collecting the most recent contributions on the appropriate wisdom, technology, and management regarding the different aspects of a community that can retain environmental sustainability

Vertical Greening Systems by Integrated Design Approach in Residential Buildings Towards mitigating Urban Heat Island effect the case study of Tehran, Iran

As urbanization grows, the results become more visible. Heat islands are formed due to the loss of green spaces and the consequent disruptive effects of climate change, especially in densely populated urban areas. These phenomena threaten and endanger human health. One solution to compensate for the scarcity of urban green space today is to construct urban green space within the house's walls to provide a suitable and desirable space. Vertical greening systems have recently been recognized and tested by scholars as one of the most effective methods for reducing the harmful impact of heating on the environment. Due to the beauty of this solution, it has also been considered by architectural designers, and today we are witnessing a growing trend of green-covered buildings. In this regard, the number of manufacturing companies is expanding and considering that this solution is in its first steps of growth and there is a need for further study. So, the standard process makes it more functional. This research aims to study the actual process and design of green walls. As a result, at the outset of the journey, the market's current and usable systems should be defined and segmented, followed by analyzing the design and manufacturing process's strengths and limitations. Then, by examining the divisions produced among scientists and companies, the final classification has been presented and analyzed in this study in order to standardize the production process. It should be remembered that businesses from various European, Asian, Australian, and American countries were surveyed to ensure that gaps existed. Based on the current system's flaws, a new Vertical Greening Integrated Approach (VGIS) approach was introduced to make it more popular, economical, and functional. Developing countries like Iran have a significant share in increasing the earth's temperature. However, because of the high price of this nature-based, it is less welcomed and used more as a decorative component in luxury buildings. Therefore, Tehran's study sample, one of the leading centers of pollution and population density and buildings, has been selected. Finally, based on the new approach, the selected green wall simulated on residential building in Tehran. Results show that this strategy's effectiveness was to lower the surface temperature by direct green facade about 10.95 °C and via felt-based living wall 13.95°C

Recent Advances in Multi Robot Systems

To design a team of robots which is able to perform given tasks is a great concern of many members of robotics community. There are many problems left to be solved in order to have the fully functional robot team. Robotics community is trying hard to solve such problems (navigation, task allocation, communication, adaptation, control, ...). This book represents the contributions of the top researchers in this field and will serve as a valuable tool for professionals in this interdisciplinary field. It is focused on the challenging issues of team architectures, vehicle learning and adaptation, heterogeneous group control and cooperation, task selection, dynamic autonomy, mixed initiative, and human and robot team interaction. The book consists of 16 chapters introducing both basic research and advanced developments. Topics covered include kinematics, dynamic analysis, accuracy, optimization design, modelling, simulation and control of multi robot systems